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Healthcare · head to head

Ambra Health vs OpenClinica

Ambra Health logo

Ambra Health

Healthcare

Cloud medical image exchange and vendor neutral archive, now part of Intelerad

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenClinica logo

OpenClinica

Healthcare

Clinical trial EDC with a genuinely open source community edition alongside a quoted commercial platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ambra Health intelerad now owns Ambra and ambrahealth.com redirects to Intelerad client support, so a buyer is committing to the Intelerad portfolio roadmap and should get written positioning on Ambra versus Intelerad own cloud PACS before signing.; OpenClinica the free community edition is a different and older product line from the commercial platform, so evaluating the open source build tells you little about what the paid product actually does.
  • They diverge on capability: Ambra Health covers Image exchange, OpenClinica covers Open source community edition.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ambra Health and OpenClinica actually diverge.

Attributes where Ambra Health and OpenClinica differ
AttributeAmbra HealthOpenClinica
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Self-hosted, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Healthcare).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ambra Health

  • Image exchange
  • Cloud VNA
  • Zero footprint viewer
  • Patient upload portal
  • Identity reconciliation
  • Clinical trials workflow
  • API and HL7 integration

Only in OpenClinica

  • Open source community edition
  • Electronic data capture
  • eConsent
  • eCOA and ePRO
  • Randomisation
  • EHR-to-EDC
  • Audit trail
  • Reporting and analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ambra Health

  • A trauma centre that receives transfers from regional hospitals and needs outside CT studies readable before the patient arrives, not after a disc is walked innot OpenClinica
  • An oncology programme collecting outside imaging for multidisciplinary tumour board review from dozens of referring practicesnot OpenClinica
  • A clinical research organisation routing de identified trial imaging from many sites to one central reading facilitynot OpenClinica
  • A health system trying to eliminate the CD import desk by giving patients and referring practices a direct upload portalnot OpenClinica

OpenClinica

  • An academic coordinating centre running investigator-initiated trials that needs Part 11 compliant capture without an enterprise eClinical budgetnot Ambra Health
  • A registry or observational cohort study collecting structured data across many sites over yearsnot Ambra Health
  • A small device sponsor that needs eConsent and ePRO in the same system as its case report formsnot Ambra Health
  • An informatics group that wants to self-host the open source edition for a non-regulated internal studynot Ambra Health

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ambra Health

  • Intelerad now owns Ambra and ambrahealth.com redirects to Intelerad client support, so a buyer is committing to the Intelerad portfolio roadmap and should get written positioning on Ambra versus Intelerad own cloud PACS before signing.
  • Ambra is built for cross organisation exchange, not for high volume in department diagnostic reading, so a radiology group that expects it to replace a departmental PACS finds the reading ergonomics and hanging protocols thinner than a dedicated PACS client.
  • Pricing scales with study volume and stored capacity, so a health system that turns on patient upload broadly sees storage grow from low value outside studies it never intended to retain, and the renewal reflects that.
  • Identity reconciliation of studies arriving with foreign patient identifiers still needs human review at volume, and sites that budget for zero touch matching end up staffing an imaging records queue.
  • Adoption depends on referring practices actually using the portal, and the vendor cannot make that happen, so image exchange projects frequently stall at the outreach and change management step rather than at the technology.

OpenClinica

  • The free community edition is a different and older product line from the commercial platform, so evaluating the open source build tells you little about what the paid product actually does.
  • The vendor provides no support or services at all for the community edition, which means outages, patching, database upgrades and validation documentation are entirely your problem.
  • Commercial pricing is not published, so you cannot benchmark it against alternatives without entering a sales process, and third-party figures around USD 1,000 a month are indicative rather than contractual.
  • Study build is skilled work: complex edit checks, randomisation schemes and integrations usually mean paying for vendor or consultant configuration services on top of the licence, which is a frequently underestimated line in the budget.
  • As a smaller vendor than the large eClinical suites it has a thinner partner and consultant ecosystem, so finding experienced build staff or a CRO already fluent in the platform is harder than with the market incumbents.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ambra Health

On request
  • Ambra Health$undefined/year
    • Priced by annual study volume and stored capacity
    • Exchange partner connections and upload portals scoped per deployment
    • Zero footprint viewer licensed with the platform

OpenClinica

On request
  • Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Free and open source under the LGPL
    • Self-hosted, on the older 3.x line
    • No vendor support or services of any kind
  • OpenClinica Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Pricing only through a sales process
    • Hosted and validated instance
    • EDC, eConsent, eCOA, randomisation and analytics modules

Which should you pick?

Choose Ambra Health if

  • You need image exchange.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want cloud vna.
Ambra Health review

Choose OpenClinica if

  • You need open source community edition.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android.
  • You also want electronic data capture.
OpenClinica review

Questions people ask

Is Ambra Health or OpenClinica better?
Neither clearly leads. Ambra Health starts at On request and OpenClinica at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ambra Health or OpenClinica?
Ambra Health starts at On request and OpenClinica at On request.
Does Ambra Health or OpenClinica run on more platforms?
Ambra Health runs on Web, iOS, Android. OpenClinica runs on Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android.
What is Ambra Health best used for?
Ambra Health is most often used for a trauma centre that receives transfers from regional hospitals and needs outside ct studies readable before the patient arrives, not after a disc is walked in, an oncology programme collecting outside imaging for multidisciplinary tumour board review from dozens of referring practices, a clinical research organisation routing de identified trial imaging from many sites to one central reading facility, a health system trying to eliminate the cd import desk by giving patients and referring practices a direct upload portal. Of those, a trauma centre that receives transfers from regional hospitals and needs outside ct studies readable before the patient arrives, not after a disc is walked in and an oncology programme collecting outside imaging for multidisciplinary tumour board review from dozens of referring practices are not what OpenClinica is typically brought in for.
What can Ambra Health do that OpenClinica cannot?
Ambra Health covers Image exchange, Cloud VNA, Zero footprint viewer, Patient upload portal. OpenClinica covers Open source community edition, Electronic data capture, eConsent, eCOA and ePRO.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ambra Health: Is Ambra Health still sold under its own name?

Yes. Intelerad still markets Ambra Health as a named product line, but the standalone website redirects to Intelerad, and support and contracting run through Intelerad.

OpenClinica: Is OpenClinica free?

There is a genuinely free, LGPL licensed community edition you host yourself with no vendor support. The commercial platform with eConsent, eCOA and a validated hosted instance is quoted and paid.

Ambra Health: Can Ambra replace our PACS?

For image exchange, archiving and clinical viewing, yes. For high volume diagnostic radiology reading it is generally deployed alongside a departmental PACS rather than instead of one.

OpenClinica: Is the open source version still maintained?

Yes, releases on the 3.x line continued through 2025, but it is a separate and older architecture from the commercial product.

Ambra Health: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted by annual study volume, stored capacity and the scope of exchange connections.

OpenClinica: Does it meet 21 CFR Part 11?

The commercial hosted platform is built for Part 11 and GCP compliance. If you self-host the community edition, compliance and validation are entirely your responsibility.

Ambra Health: Does the viewer require software on referring physician machines?

No. The viewer is zero footprint HTML5, which is the main reason referring practices adopt it at all.

OpenClinica: What does the commercial version cost?

Not published. Third-party listings suggest enterprise arrangements from around USD 1,000 per month, but real cost depends on study count, subjects, modules and build services.

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